Defending champ Summer McIntosh cruises into 400m individual medley final at aquatics worlds | CBC Sports

Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh will go for another gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships after cruising into the women’s 400-metre individual medley final on Sunday morning in Fukuoka, Japan.

The 16-year-old from Toronto finished second in the fourth and final heat with a time of four minutes 36.57 seconds, the second-fastest out of the eight qualifiers. Australia’s Jenna Forrester posted the top time after passing McIntosh down the stretch in their heat, clocking 4:35.88.

McIntosh is aiming to repeat her historic double from last year’s worlds in Budapest, where she won the women’s 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley to become the first Canadian swimmer to capture multiple gold medals at the same world championships.

She successfully defended her world title in the 200m butterfly on Thursday and will try to do the same in the 400 medley on Sunday at 8:01 a.m. ET. McIntosh is the world-record holder in the event (4:25.87).

Fellow Canadian Ella Jansen failed to advance to the final after finishing ninth in the same heat, missing the cut with the 17th-fastest overall time (4:43.35).

McIntosh has rebounded superbly from her disappointing fourth-place finish in last weekend’s 400m freestyle final, taking bronze in the 200m freestyle on Wednesday before her gold in the 200 fly. With that victory, she joined teammate Kylie Masse as the only Canadian swimmers in history with three world titles.

WATCH | CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux profiles Summer McIntosh:

What it takes to be the best

CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux profiles world champion swimmer Summer McIntosh on her move from Toronto to Sarasota, Florida in order to join an elite training swim program.

Canada books spots in relay finals

The women’s 400 medley heats were followed by the men’s and women’s 4×100 medley relay heats, which saw both Canadian teams advance.

Canada swam the fastest heat in the women’s relay, with Ingrid Wilm, Sophie Angus, Maggie Mac Neil and Mary-Sophie Harvey qualifying with a time of 3:55.93. The eight-team final is scheduled for Sunday at 8:37 a.m. ET, capping the final night of competition at the Marine Messe Fukuoka.

The Canadian men also qualified, as Javier Acevedo, James Dergousoff, Josh Liendo and Ruslan Gaziev finished tied for fifth in their heat and fifth overall (3:32.11). The men’s final gets underway on Sunday at 8:19 a.m. ET.

WATCH | Replay of Day 8 swimming prelims:

World Aquatics Championships: Swimming preliminaries day 8

Watch day eight of the swimming preliminaries at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.